Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Exodus
Exodus 17:8-16 Part 2 03/21/04
Message Title: ‘Imagine What
God Could
Do!’pt.2
Message Text: Ex. 17:8-16
Introduction: When William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army,
felt the call of the Lord to go into the streets of London and begin
ministering to the poor, he stood in a Methodist Conference meeting and
requested permission from the presiding bishop to be released from his
church to go into the streets and preach. The bishop heard the request and
denied it telling Booth that they would not waste a man of his education and
talent on the people of the streets. Upon hearing this, Booth sat down,
resigned to defeat.
His wife was seated in the balcony, because women were not allowed on the
first floor. She stood up and leaned over the rail. She called to her
husband and told him to listen to God and not to man. She vowed to stand
with her husband against every foe. She came down from the balcony, Booth
took her by the arm and they left the building to go into the streets to win
people to Jesus. He was ready to quit, but his wife, a lady who usually
stayed in the background, stepped out to hold up her husbands arms at a
critical time in his life!
My wife is that kind of partner in ministry with me. Are you able to
say the same about your spouse…Is your spouse able to say that about you?
Transition: Last week we looked at Partnership: specifically, A
Common Enemy, Partners in Leadership, and Partners in Battle. This week we
continue our exploration of Partnership. Turn to Ex. 17:8-16.
Partners in Prayer
Some would say that Joshua’s active and intentional partnership in
leading the rag tag bunch of men into battle was the more difficult,
strenuous and demanding part of the partnership Joshua shared with Moses.
But, according to this text, I would disagree. While the physical aspects of
battle are certainly more dangerous, that does not mean it is more demanding
or strenuous than prayer. Remember, Jesus reminded us that when it comes to
prayer, ‘The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”.
Moses partnered in prayer. Sounds pretty easy, but I think that’s because
many Christians have a poor understanding and practice of prayer. They spend
5 minutes a day in prayer at their devotions, another minute or two with
prayer at meals. And they think they have prayed. Moses spent all day in
prayer. From sunrise to sunset, in prayer. And he didn’t have a long list of
things to pray for…one thing took priority…victory over the army of Amalek.
And by the way, Moses didn’t lay down when he prayed. He stood with raised
hands to heaven. This was the normal way for the ancient people of God to
pray. He only sat down when he was physically exhausted. And I bet Aaron and
Hur had to force him to sit.
Moses stood to prayer. This speaks of alertness, and attentiveness. Moses
made intercession to God for the people. Moses’ active, intentional
partnership was as an intercessor. Did you know that in Biblical days an
intercessor was a person who was awake in the dark and watched over a city
to look for enemy sneak attacks? The fate of Israel was in the hands of
these watchful intercessors.
Did you know you can be an intercessor right here at CBC? You too can stand
watch over your church family. You too can partner with others each
Wednesday night at our Mid Week Praise & Prayer Service.
You would be surprised to know that many victories have been won in the life
of this church, in your life, because people who love and care for you have
partnered together to pray for you. And I believe that the fate of CBC is in
the hands of our Wed. night intercessors…your partners in prayer. Victory
comes in the life of the Christian when we persist and pray in partnership
for one another.
• I know you are busy, but honestly, we all are.
• I realize some of you have small children, but that is why there are
two of you.
• I realize that some of you are uncomfortable with praying out loud.
That’s OK, come and pray in loud (silently)
Last week during our morning worship service, we partnered together in
prayer for one another. What we did as a congregation of 70 or so is a
picture of what 10-12 faithfully do on Wednesday nights each week. Imagine
what God could do….if 30 people partnered in prayer each Wednesday.
Partners in Encouragement
While the text doesn’t say this, I am sure Moses didn’t pray alone. I
don’t believe that Aaron and Hur were there to just physically hold up
Moses’ hands. And, I am also certain that their prayerful and physical
presence was a great encouragement to Moses.
Scripture and history tells us a lot about Moses and Aaron, but Hur is only
mentioned here and briefly one other place in Scripture. We aren’t even sure
who Hur was? Moses, Aaron, Joshua are all role models and examples of faith
to all of God’s people because we have heard a lot about them. But what
about the faithful people we have never heard much about?
I want you to think about this. If it wasn’t for Hur, Israel would have been
defeated. Both of Moses’ arms had to be raised in prayer for Israel to have
victory. Hur, while unnoticed by many, partnered with Aaron and Moses to
bring victory to Israel.
In this brief text, God honors Hur for his partnership in encouragement. For
the next few moments I want to honor all those:
• who are willing to take a back seat,
• who are willing to do things behind the scenes,
• who are willing to forgo the thanks and recognition they deserve
I want to honor the Hur’s here at CBC.
Often, people will come up to me after a Sunday morning worship celebration
and tell me how much the service and the message meant to them, how God
touched their lives through our morning worship.
It is easy for the pastor, the one most visible in the worship
celebration to take the credit for what happens any given Sunday morning.
And to keep the line moving out of the worship center, I humbly say thanks.
In reality, I know that it was the power and presence of the Holy Spirit
that was at work. But I also know that there are many people partnering with
me to be instruments the Holy Spirit uses to accomplish his work in our
midst.
• I know there are people praying for me during the week as I prepare the
Order of Worship.
• I know there are people praying for me during the week as I prepare the
message.
• I know there are people who often work behind the scenes so that our
Sunday morning worship celebration is conducive to worship…people like
o Rita Miller and her family who clean the church building each week.
o Walt, John, Jim, Lloyd, our Trustees who work hard to maintain the
building each week.
o Thomas who get our flowers, puts the bulletins together and changes
the outside sign each week.
o Walt, Lloyd, Jason, Walt, Nancy, Ron, Anne, Clyde, Dan, Sam,
Thomas, Giovanna, who serve as ushers and greeters each week.
o Bill, Wes, Walt, Giovanna, Paul, Jim who serve in the sound room
each week.
o Kathy, Lolita, Alex, Lindsay who serve by working the powerpoint
presentation each week.
o Janet, Joe, Claire, Clyde, Rita, Kim, Francine who serve in our
Children’s church program each week.
o Joe, Wes, Nancy, Thomas, Dan, Roy who serve as worship leaders each
week.
o Gary, Roy, Ben, Rita, Susan, who serve on the worship team each
week.
o Christopher, Michael, Ben, Samantha, Sarah, Stephanie, Jeremy,
Karli, Anna Marie, Christine who have served as candlelighters each week.
As you can see, we have many who are actively and intentionally partnering
in ministry each week. And I want you all to know that as I say thanks to
someone when they tell me what a great worship service it was, I have all of
you in mind, and in my heart.
I want you all to know that to me, you all are Hurs.
I want you all to know that I honestly appreciate you and your faithful, and
often thankless service to our Lord and to this his church.
I want you to know that without you, CBC would not be what it is, a beacon
of God’s Truth to our community and a partner in ministry building the
Kingdom of God here and around the world.
For those of you who are not actively and intentionally partnering in
ministry here at CBC, I want you to know that there is room for you. Let me
know how you feel God is leading you to serve and we will find a place for
you to partner with us in ministry.
Partners in Worship
OK., back to the text. Notice that Moses didn’t keep the joy of
victory to himself. Moses didn’t keep any credit for the victory for
himself. Moses, together with others not mentioned, built an altar to God
and worshipped him there…together.
Here they called God, Jehovah Nissi, which means The Lord is our banner.
Banner is a military term. It is like the American flag today which goes
before our army into battle. American rally aound the flag in times of
national crises. Remember 911 and all the small American flags placed
everywhere?
Well, God’s people in times of crises are to rally around the Lord who is
our banner, our leader, our guide, our protector, our love, our life.
Conclusion
I want to promise you something. As your pastor, and friend, I am
standing here this morning promising to partner with Jesus Christ and with
you to fulfill the ministry God has given to this Church. I close by asking
you one question.
Will you stand with Jesus Christ and with me and promise to be partners in
ministry to the glory of God. If so, please stand. Look at the people on
either side of you and repeat after me …
I promise to partner with you, as we serve God and his people, here at CBC.
I promise this to the glory of God. Amen! So be it!
May what we have just promised be written in heaven and may God grant us the
continual grace to live it out.